Sri Lanka president signs four death warrants to end decades long moratorium

The Sri Lankan president on Wednesday signed the death warrants of four prisoners jailed on drug-related offenses, to end a 43-year moratorium on the island.

“I would like to announce today, on International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, that I am completely committed to carrying out the capital punishment for drug related offenses.

This includes drug trafficking, selling, distributing and the use of any illegal substances,” Maithripala Sirisena, the Sri Lankan president, told reporters.

Although the exact date of the executions was withheld, Mr Sirisena told reporters that the death penalty would be carried out “very soon.”

“None of the four prisoners or their families have yet been notified. We don’t want to announce their names yet as it may lead to unrest in the prisons,” said Mr Sirisena.

The four convicts will be notified two weeks prior to their executions, and according to Sri Lankan law, they will have a chance to appeal their sentences to the president.

“Just the thought of executions should create fear and put an end to this sweeping narcotics trade. Too many children are at stake,” he told The Telegraph.

Britain urged Sri Lanka not to reinstate the death penalty.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are deeply concerned at reports that Sri Lanka intends to abandon its long-standing moratorium on use of the death penalty. The UK opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle.

“Implementation of the death penalty will inevitably make it more difficult for the UK to cooperate on law enforcement issues, including on counter terrorism, and will require us to review our technical assistance programmes on relevant policing, defence and other security issues."

The government has been fighting a war against drugs in the past two years and has identified school children and university students as major targets of the drug mafia.

Mr Sirisena said that there are 200,000 drug addicts in the country. Of the 24,000 convicts in prison, 60 percent are serving sentences for drug related crimes.

Criminals in Sri Lanka are given death sentences for murder, rape, and drug-related crimes. However since 1976 their sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment.

Mr Sirisena's decision to reintroduce the death penalty has been strongly opposed by the Buddhist clergy and international rights groups.

London based Amnesty International, which has repeatedly called on Mr Sirisena to halt his plans on resuming executions, said it was “outraged” at the decision to execute the four men, and hopes he will “reconsider his decision.”

"We are outraged that the President has signed the first execution warrants issued by Sri Lanka in 43 years. In one stroke, he will undo all the country's progress in putting a stop to the use of the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment," said Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International.

Since the last execution 43 years ago, Sri Lanka's last hangman quit in 2014 without ever having to execute anyone, citing stress after seeing the gallows for the first time.

Another hired last year never turned up for work. International drug smugglers have increasingly turned to Sri Lanka as a transit hub in Asia. In the past two years several underworld drug lords have been hunted down and arrested by the Sri Lankan government.